Report 1298
Report #1298 Skillset: Crow Skill: Totemcarve Org: Shadowdancers Status: Completed Oct 2013 Furies' Decision: Solution 1. Problem: Currently, totems serve multiple, essential services to members of the Glomdoring and Serenwilde, at both an organizational and personal level. Totems serve as the communes' version of runed statues when bonded by a user of Crow or Stag. Bonding to a totem is one of the requirements for Crow and Stag users to use a majority of their skills. Unfortunately, only DRUIDS who have chose the Druidry specialization are able to carve totems (which leaves Wyrdenwood, Wildewoode, and Totem Knights without a means of procuring the essential tools of their skillsets). This report seeks to spread this burden from amongst one of the most poorly represented portion of the population to a wider group of individuals, as well as rectify the issue of codependency on Druidry Druids. 0 R: 0 Solution #1: Move the Totemcarve skill from 0% Master in Druidry(Stag) and Druidry(Crow) to 0% master in the Totems specializations Stag and Crow. This will allow knights who specialize in Stag or Crow and druids who specialize in Wildewood or Wyrdenwood to be able to carve the totems which they require for their abilities, as well as spreading the burden of commune maintenance amongst more people. 0 R: 0 Solution #2: In addition to Solution 1, add the Totemcarve skill to 0% Master in the Totems specializations Moon and Night, allowing wiccans to assist druids in carving totems. While this solution is desirable, it may not be deemed appropriate thematically. 0 R: 0 Solution #3: Add a new syntax to Crow / Stag Bond, which allows for the creation of little symbols (for some commodity cost, eg 20 meat and 1 shadowessence for 20 crow-symbols). 2) A new skill in Nature that allows for affixing these symbols to a Totem. Every year, when the tree would revert, it instead consumes the symbol. Player Comments: ---on 10/10 @ 01:07 writes: Totems are currently one of the most basic commune chores. Members of a commune may perform the basic power quest (pixies or shadows of crow) to receive a nut (one nut per ten pixies/shadows). After this nut it acquired, a Nature user may plant it. After the course of planting five nuts in one room, trimming the trees, waiting, trimming the trees again, and waiting some more, a user of Druidry(Stag) or Druidry(Crow) can carve a fully grown tree into the totem, allowing it to be bonded by a Stag or Crow user to be used with their skills. After being carved, the tree cannot be chopped. However, totems revert back to choppable trees on a specific timer. This creates a recurring task of combing the entire forest and carving totems which can only be done by members of the Hartstone or Blacktalon who have selected the melding specialization of their guilds, as both Wildewood and Wyrdenwood lack the ability to carve totems. These totems, however, will be used in the abilities of those Serenguard who select Stag and Ebonguard who select Crow, as well as those druid who have selected the *wood specializations. When these totems are bonded, they will also become the forests' iteration of runed statues (which require far, far less commitment and upkeep - especially considering that ANYONE can create a statue). The two druid guilds have notoriously been low-population, further compounding the issue as those few druids are are active and have chosen the melding specialization must shoulder this burden alone. This report attempts to remove the burden from a vast minority of the communes and spread it among more individuals. ---on 10/10 @ 01:36 writes: There are individuals who feel this skill should remain only within the Druidry specialization of Nature, as being able to carve totems is the defining characteristic of a druid. This is something to keep in mind, even though it is not something with which I agree. ---on 10/10 @ 04:31 writes: Solution three should include giving real totemcarving to Wilde/Wyrdenwoods, as a very last report, but I don't see any substantial reason to go against this report. There are several ways to fix the obnoxious totem mechanics, this is one of them that should help. ---on 10/12 @ 17:51 writes: I support either solution. ---on 10/13 @ 01:05 writes: Svorai has requested this comment: Totemcarving is a skill unique to druids, who take the skillset of Druidry. The whole point of druids is that they use 'physical nature magic' (which involves tending to the forest), as opposed to wiccans who use 'ethereal nature magic' (which involves the fae and spirits). Both druids and wiccans take Nature, but that is where their similarities end. Wiccans, and especially knights, should *not* have the ability to tend to the forest in this unique way that druids do, as druids are the 'caretakers of the forest'. This proposal would take away their purpose of being. Using Crow has nothing to do with the Nature side of the guild's skills, as Crow comes from Totems (totem *spirits*, mind, not making trees into totem poles). I don't understand why knights are even being proposed to have an ability to carve. Their tertiary has nothing to do with totems. I understand that some people find carving a chore, and even moreso when the Wilde/Wyrdenwoods came along. The premise of this report is a good one -- I agree that there should be a report on it. There must be another solution, though, rather than handing a *very special* skill to other archetypes simply to have a larger pool of people to do the task. What about having totems last not one year, but two, or five? What about changing the mechanic of the 'Moonhart' or 'Wyrden' skills for Wilde/Wyrdenwoods so that they can slow the reversion of totems to elders by a factor of two, or five? Allow Crow/Stag users to have a lesser 'bond' with a handful of totems that prevents them from reverting, but can't have runes affixed to them? Anything but giving away this ability, please. ---on 10/14 @ 18:05 writes: Statues are easier to put up and upkeep but they do not generate power. Also, they are never invulnerable. How much grind and exclusivity warrants the power gain is debatable. I could see allowing this for crow and stag, possibly to a lesser degree. Barring expanding the pool of people though you can always up the incentive for people by mechanics or org. Might even recruit more druids who want in on that sweet sweet carving racket. ---on 10/15 @ 13:07 writes: There's a new solution attached to this, Solution 3. I really like this as an option because it requires the same amount of work (still need to comb the forest on a yearly basis), but it enables both Wiccans and Warriors to help share the burden a bit. Warriors can make the symbols and then provide them to Wiccans, who attach them to the already-built-totems. Solution 3 also leaves it so that if the tree does revert, it is still the province of the Druids to carve them back (so that they retain their supreme bond to the physical forest). It simply adds in something that helps keep the totem from reverting -if- the effort is put forth- and it's something that can be done proactively instead of reactively (another great thing imo). ---on 10/15 @ 15:06 writes: Nooooo to solution 3 unless there is a very short window in which trees can be given symbols. Otherwise you will just have both communes with perma invulnerable trees that will never need to be re-carved. ---on 10/15 @ 23:21 writes: Er, it's not permanent- it requires consistent upkeep or it fails. That's a lot of rooms, and very, -very- easy to miss some (or even a lot). It's not like there is a suggestion to have them be in another state when they have a symbol so that you can bond track to them or anything (which you -can- do with Elders). It will just prevent large swathes of them from going all at once, and if a few get deadified it's no longer as big a deal simply because there is no longer the potential for 20+ to all be chopped at a time. ---on 10/16 @ 02:36 writes: Solution 1. ---on 10/16 @ 02:58 writes: Solution 1 is simplest ---on 10/19 @ 23:35 writes: For solution 3, if I am not misreading it, does that mean the symbol just puts off the reversion for an IC day, then? It doesn't make any explicit remark about resetting the reversion timer as if it were carved, which would be a huge benefit if such was intended. People may or may not be reading it that way.